Rookie trainer Kerry Lee has been carrying all before her of late and her Bishops Road (20 from 33s at BetVictor) is the best backed horse for the National in the last 24 hours; this time tomorrow we will be previewing the opening day of what promises to be a sensational three-day Festival.
Heavy ground is the order of the day for Nottingham’s feature meeting and the return of Clever Cookie (3.50) in the feature event the listed Further Flight Stakes named in honour of the Barry Hills’ wonderful grey.
The selection is now an 8-year-old but was, arguably, better than ever last season, goes well fresh, loves cut in the ground and I would be disappointed if he didn’t make a winning reappearance for Peter Niven.
This is the first time he will have been asked to race on heavy ground but he threatens to improve again for the conditions and has 8lbs and more in hand of his field on official figures. The Yorkshire Cup is his first major objective for the year at York next month but he might not have to be at his very best to score in a race that looks his to lose.
I was thinking of taking a chance on Hail Clodius (4.25) in the Mile handicap despite returning from a 600-day absence for Richard Hannon; the grey made it third time lucky when running away with a soft ground Newmarket maiden on the last of three highly-promising juvenile outings and is obviously the most unexposed runner in the field.
I suggest we keep a close eye on the market to see if there is any market confidence behind the Hannon runner but another fascinating contender is Greenside (3.25) and he gets the vote for Henry Candy.
The selection had six months in his box with a plate in his leg before winning a Newmarket Handicap on soft ground back in October by a long looking five lengths. The 5-y-old has only had four career starts and has won half of them but is obviously fragile and first tie out might be the time to catch him.
In the finale Purple Raven (5.25) is bred to appreciate this step up in trip having shaped with promise in three starts over 7f and a mile as a juvenile; the filly is out of a Northumberland Plate winner and ran a highly promising race first time out as a juvenile. Jamie Spencer takes the ride and she is one of a number of potential improvers in the field.
High Draw would be an apt winner of the opener in the week of the Masters but John Gosden has saddled the winner of the event twice in the last three years and relies upon the once-raced Stratum (2.20) who shaped with promise on debut and is bred to be decent; Frankie Dettori takes the ride in a race that should again throw up some future winners.
Ryan Moore is at Lingfield to ride Across The Stars (3.10) in the 12f maiden for Sir Michael Stoute; runner up in both starts as a juvenile the selection still has an entry in the Dante and Derby and will be at punitive odds to make it third time lucky. The colt cost 600,000gns as a yearling so he is certainly bred for the job!
I fancy Ayr Of Elegance in the 10f handicap for Philip Hide; the filly remains a maiden after five starts as a 3-y-old where she showed plenty of promise and could be given every chance on her Newmarket effort on her penultimate start. This is her all-weather debut so we have to take her ability to handle polytrack on trust although there is no reason why she shouldn’t take to the surface.
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